1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an optical waveguide device for optical wiring, and to a manufacturing method therefor, which is capable of simplifying the connection of various optical integrated circuits and optical devices and the like, which are employed in the fields of general optics and microoptics and in the fields of optical communications and optical data processing, and the connection of optical devices between boards when those devices are mounted on boards for use in wiring in the field of optical interconnection.
2. Related Art
In recent years, a great deal of research has been conducted into optical waveguides, which are employed in the fields of optical data processing and optical communications technologies, with the object of the integration, miniaturization, improvement in function, and reduction in cost of such optical waveguides. In one area of the optical communications field, in fact, silica system optical waveguide elements for use in optical wiring have reached the stage of practical application (reference document: Kawauchi Masao, NTT RandD, volume 43, number 11, page 101 (1994)).
Furthermore, research into polymeric waveguides, which employ inexpensive materials and allow for simplified production methods, have also been widely conducted. However, these optical waveguides have all been investigated with respect to the advantages of optical waveguide elements as optical parts, and there is almost no perception of such elements as optical wiring parts, and almost no research has been conducted in this area. For this reason, in optical wiring technologies for establishing connections between devices and between boards (optical interconnection), there have been almost no examples of the use of optical waveguides as optical parts for connecting optical device arrays such as various laser diodes (LD) or photodiodes (PD) or the like, or parallel planar optical waveguides, which have the function of conducting the branching and merging of waves. Optical fibers or optical fiber tapes are employed in this type of optical wiring. Examples of such optical fiber tape include, for example, optical fiber tapes provided at both ends with multiconductor optical connector plugs, and the like.
When the conventional optical fibers described above are employed, most such fibers are comprised of silica system glass, so that as a result of the properties of the material, cracking resulting from sudden bending, twisting, compression, torsion, or the like must be taken into account, and sufficient excess lengthmust be provided when the fibers are manufactured, and special methods are required for dealing with this excess length, so that the devices become larger and it becomes difficult to reduce the optical wiring boards and the like within devices to a compact size.
Furthermore, when optical fibers which are provided with multiconductor optical connector plugs at both ends thereof such as those conventional examples described above are employed, it is impossible to produce optical fiber tape which is provided with multiconductor optical connector plugs at both ends thereof in which the optical fiber portion is greatly shortened in order to reduce the length thereof. For this reason, it is necessary to provide a large amount of space on the boards for optical wiring, and this is inconvenient with respect to high density installation.
Furthermore, polymeric waveguides are optical wage guides which do possess flexibility; however, because there is no method for easily conducting optical connection with various devices, it is difficult to take advantage of this characteristic flexibility.
The present invention was created in light of the above circumstances; it has as an object thereof to provide an optical waveguide device for optical wiring, and a manufacturing method therefor, which is capable of easily and highly precisely connecting optical devices, planar optical waveguides, optical fibers, and the like on optical wiring boards, and moreover, is low in cost and is easy to manipulate.
The optical waveguide device for optical wiring of the present invention is provided with connectors which are connected to an optical fiber in an unaligned manner via guide pins, and a polymeric waveguide, which is a film-shaped optical waveguide; the connectors are joined to either both ends or one end of the polymeric waveguide, and the connectors comprise two connector parts arranged in facing position, and in the opposing faces of these optical connector parts, a polymeric waveguide loading groove for loading the polymeric waveguide and two guide pin loading grooves for loading the guide pins are formed, and the polymeric waveguide is sandwiched between the two connector parts, and the polymeric waveguide is joined to the two connector parts and this is made into a single unit.
In accordance with the optical waveguide device for optical wiring in the present invention, either both ends or one end of the polymeric waveguide is connected to a connector, so that it is a simple matter to carry out connection to an optical fiber. Accordingly, it is possible to connect optical devices, planar optical waveguides, optical fibers, and the like easily and with high precision. Moreover, the structure is simple, and it is possible to realize a reduction in cost, and the ease of manipulation is also increased.
Furthermore, the connector comprises two connector parts which are disposed in facing position, and a polymeric waveguide loading groove for loading the polymeric waveguide and two guide pin loading grooves for loading the guide pins are formed in the mutually opposing surfaces of the connector parts, and the polymeric waveguide is sandwiched between the two connector parts, so that it is possible to precisely and easily assemble the device by placing the polymeric waveguide in the polymeric waveguide loading groove and connecting the polymeric waveguide with the two connector parts.
The manufacturing method for the optical waveguide device optical wiring of the present invention is a manufacturing method for an optical waveguide device for optical wiring which is provided with connectors which are connected to an optical fiber in an unaligned manner via guide pins, and a polymeric waveguide, which is a film-shaped optical waveguide; the upper cladding or lower cladding of the polymeric waveguide is formed so that the distance from a line connecting the two guide pin loading grooves of the connector to the bottom surface of the polymeric waveguide loading groove is within 5 micrometers of the height to the center of the core of the polymeric waveguide, and the polymeric waveguide is formed so that the positional displacement in the horizontal direction between the center of the polymeric waveguide in the horizontal direction and the center of a line connecting the centers of the two guide pin loading grooves is 5 micrometers or less, and a connector is connected to one or both ends of the polymeric waveguide.
In accordance with the manufacturing method for the optical waveguide device for optical wiring of the present invention, it is possible to precisely control the film thickness of the lower cladding of the polymeric waveguide, and it is possible to precisely manufacture the width of the polymeric waveguide. Accordingly, it is possible to align the center of the core of the optical fiber which is connected with the center of the core of the polymeric waveguide with an accuracy of within 5 micrometers, and moreover, it is possible to produce an optical waveguide device for optical wiring in which the connection loss is limited to 0.2 dB or less.